OPPOSITIONS’ AND
SUPPORTERS’ ENDLESS SMEAR CAMPAIGNS
PART 13
By Mathza
Most of the
oppositions’ leadership and their handful supporters, particularly the
minuscule vociferous Diaspora, and some individuals obsessed with lust for
power and hatred against Prime Minister Meles Zenawi have been and are doing
anything to get rid of him, the TPLF and the EPRDF. They are intimidated and
demoralized by his intelligence, capability, competence and the respect he
commands in the international community. Their hatred is limitless. In their
obsession and desperation to snatch power, they have crossed the line of
treason by compromising and endangering the sovereignty, security, territorial
integrity and national interests of Ethiopia. The following are examples supporting
this statement:
They condemn
Ethiopia’s defense against jihadists;
They praise,
congratulate, defend, encourage and support—instead of
denouncing—the atrocities committed by separatists and jihadists;
They condemn
Ethiopia’s reaction to such atrocities;
They
collaborate and scheme with the Eritrean government which has been and is
trying hard to destabilize and disintegrate Ethiopia;
They belittle
EPRDF's sound government policies and strategies, which have proved successful;
They deny and
ridicule the double-digit economic growth, a remarkable progress and
performance in socio-economic development in the last five years; and
They
unashamedly accuse the Prime Minister of being a stooge of developed countries
because of, among others, his success to mobilize foreign assistance (For
example: by not giving in to pressure from such countries to allow foreign
banks to operate in Ethiopia he not only shielded the development of local
banks but also saved the country from the devastating impact of the current
global financial crisis).
In short,
these hate-mongers and anti-Ethiopia elements do not care at all about Ethiopia
and Ethiopians. Their only desire is to be in power by any means—in the
driver’s seat—without any concern on how that might impact Ethiopia
and its people, enie kemotku serdo aybqel.
One of their tactics is a
negative smear campaign portraying the country's image and, in particular,
it’s dedicated Prime Minister with all kinds of monstrous adjectives and
pictures. Among the methods used include politicizing everything, outrageous
allegations, lies, exaggerations, wild generalizations, spinning,
misinterpretation and spreading rumors. Practically all of the writings of
these-diehards are replete of despicable descriptions and character
assassinations, all intended purely to bring down the government. This writing
ferrets out examples of statements that do not make any sense, are illogical,
are concocted, or are not supported by facts—purely intended to misinform
and mislead readers, particularly the Diaspora silent majority. It is a modest
attempt to expose those bigots who have been hoodwinking and continue to
hoodwink the Ethiopians and the international community. (In the future, there
will be a series of matrixes like the one below, each preceded by the current
two paragraphs).
|
Title/Source/Date |
Author’s
Statement |
My
Comments |
1. የኤርትራ
ስጦታ፡
የታሪክ
እስር
ቤት፡
የህወሀት
ጥፋት
By
አባኪያ (Ethiopia's
opposition is now setting the agenda), ethiopianreview.com, June
1st, 2009
|
1. …በሁለቱ ህዝቦች መካከል የሚፈጠርና የሚጠናከር ኢኮኖሚአዊና ፖለቲካዊ ትስስር እንቅልፍ የሚነሳቸው ስልጣናችንን ያሳጣናል ብለው የሚሰጉትንና የሚሸበሩትን የወያኔ ቡድኖች…ወያኔዎች ወደዚህ አሁን እብደት ነው ወደምለው የድንበር ግጭት የገቡት። የድንበር ግጭቱ ግን የሀሰት ምክንያት ነው። ዋና ስጋት ስልጣናቸውን የማጣት ነው።… (President Isayas) 2.
በስሜትና በእልህ ነው እዚህ ጋር የተናገሩት። ያንን ብቻ ነጥለን ካየነው፡ እውነተኛነታቸው ምንም
ቅንጣት ታህል
አያጠራጥርም። ምንም
ጠላትነት፡ ምንም
የተደበቀ አጀንዳ፡ ምንም
አይነት ሴራ የለም።…(አባኪያ) |
The title in English is
that of editor Elias Kifle. The write-up by Abakya is a
review of the interview with President Isayas by Elias and Sileshi Tilahun. 1. The President-for-life
Isayas repeatedly hammered that the ‘Woyane”
are worried and that political and economic cooperation between Ethiopia and
Eritrea will end their power. To support his argument, despite the fact that
he started the 1998-2000 war, he accuses “Woyane” of resorting to
border war in order to thwart Ethio-Eritrea union (wuhdet). Recall that the
loss of lives and destruction would have been minimal had he acceded to many
attempts by third parties to come to the table. 2. The writer blindly asserts that President Isayas spoke the truth. He went further and commented that, as far as the President is concerned, “there is no animosity, there are no hidden agendas, there is no conspiracy” against Ethiopia. It is obvious that the writer came to this conclusion to support his own hidden agenda. Please refer to item 10 in PART 11 on related comments. According to Gedab News
(awate.com, June 22, 2009) “The regime of Isaias Afwerki has told its
diplomats that its political priority is no longer the “border
issue” which is “resolved” but the situation in
Somalia.” This is an acknowledgment that President Isaias is behind the
chaos in Somalia and therefore negates the above assertion of Abakya. |
2. In Search of Peace: Ethiopia's Ethnic Conflicts and Resolution, By Messay Kebede, ethiopianreview.com, June 10th, 2009 |
…Since the ethnic
conflict is by far the most divisive and pernicious issue of present day
Ethiopia, the endeavor both to defeat the regime and establish a post-TPLF political system
presupposes an approach dealing with ethnicity. It is illusory to assume that
ethnicity will simply go away if the TPLF is defeated… |
The first paragraph of the
article, part of which is quoted in the
middle column, summarizes the long article. The first sentence in the
quote deals with the need to do away with the “divisive and pernicious
issue” of ethnicity and the TPLF itself. The ethnic-based federal structure replacing the feudal one—the latter dubbed “a prison of Nationalities”—is there to stay. It
recognizes the 80 ethnic groups as equal at every level of the government
structure. Historically the social strata of the Ethiopian people fell under
three categories. The so-called ruling feudal class comprises the first
group. The second group includes those members of a limited number of ethnic
groups that were considered second-class citizens. The third lumps the great
majority of ethnic groups. The existence and
therefore the recognition of the last group started to come out soon
after the royal regime was ousted. It is thanks to the EPRDF government that
they came out of the closet and occupied their rightful positions. Now like
their other Ethiopian brothers and sisters they are masters of their
destinies: they administer themselves; most of them use their mother tongues
as working languages (they are taught Amharic and English in schools); they
openly practice and develop their cultures and religions; they develop their
zones or regions according to their needs; they participate in running the
affairs of the country at federal level; etc. In
short, they are enjoying their entitled rights and freedom that they were
denied under the previous regimes. How
on earth do the writer and his likes expect to change the federal system that
was established by the groups themselves. The system has gained acceptance of
and support by the great majority of the people. Persuasion
or force are the only
options to achieve the chauvinists’ dreams. The former is out of
question because none of them will trade off
their autonomy for any other form of government. The latter, if at all tried,
will create chaos, which would be quelled promptly by the government. At
worst separatists would take advantage of the chaos
leading to the disintegration of the country. (By the way, according
to the Ethiopian government the video on OLF shown on NTV in Kenya was not
filmed in Ethiopia. This, apparently, was why the government has not taken
legal action against the journalist who was responsible for the filming and
broadcasting.) In the second sentence the writer tacitly admits that ethnicity will be there to stay no matter what happens. Then why all this “akaki zeraf”! The “good” old days of intimidating and hoodwinking the people are gone forever! The ethnic groups have become masters of their own destinies. The Shewa Amhara elite,
ardent advocates of dismantling the
ethnic-based federal system are doing disservice to the country. Their day in
day out demagogy and rhetoric against the system is adding fuel to fire. They
are exhausting the patience of the nations, nationalities and peoples of
Ethiopia, including the Amharas. In addition, they are encouraging and
supporting separatists and covert and overt foreign enemies. They are working
against the national interest of the country for the very simple reason: to be in power for power's sake—regaining what they lost (exclusive power/influence and all the rest
that go with it)—a wishful thinking indeed. They have downgraded
themselves to that of the proverbial donkey “Enie kemotku serdo
aybqel.” |
|
3.
Fighting for a country, by Obang of
Solidarity Movement for New
Ethiopia (SMNE) press release, ethiomedia.com, June 11, 2009 |
Language has also been used as a
“gate-keeper” by only admitting certain people who know the
“right” language will leaving out others who do not. It has given
a chosen few a monopoly on access to opportunities within the country and
outside of the country … language has been used as a means to uphold an
apartheid system of opportunity. It has eliminated competition for advanced
education, private and public jobs, partnerships with people outside of
one’s own group—both within and outside of the country. |
The author, Obango, laments
that Ethiopians who learn in their mother tongues are disadvantaged. This
complaint seems limited to only Obango. He
is, apparently, not aware that children whose mother tongues are not Amharic
learn Amharic as a language at elementary level. He seems to have forgotten
that English, like Amharic, is taught and is the medium of instruction at
high school and tertiary institutions. As far as the English language is
concerned there is no change since his school days. So why all the fuss? He seems to favor the old
system where non-Amharic speakers suffered from not being able to express
themselves with administering officials, at courts, etc. They had to go
through the inconvenience of using and paying interpreters whose knowledge of
Amharic was limited. He has forgotten that his own
relatives were among the victims. His use of apartheid in the
Ethiopian context is regrettable. Obango finds
it difficult to admit students of all nations and nationalities have access to colleges and universities within
and outside their states. An unprecedented and increasing number of students
are graduating every year. Obviously, his argument does not hold water. |
|
4. We Have Power as
Constituents—Let’s Use It!, Part Two of UK Parliamentarians’ Advice Regarding Ethiopia,
“Let Us Hear the Voices of Our Constituents!”, by Obango Metho,
ethiomedia.com, July 3, 2009 |
UK MP 1: Some massive scale action
must happen where these three governments [UK, USA Canada] will coordinate a
concerted effort. UK MP 2: The time
frame is from now until January. If Ethiopians do not do anything to shift
policy and attitudes among donor years of torture, injustice countries, it
will be another five and suffering for the people of Ethiopia. UK MP 3: He said it would greatly
help if the word could be spread through student organizations, faith
communities, civic groups and through other associations… UK MP 4: Some of
us British parliament members already understand the issues, but others
simply might not be interested because they do not know. Someone has to go
tell them; the same in other countries. |
According to the writer,
Part Two consists of materials he obtained through follow-up to the meeting
that was held in London. As there is no mention of these MPs from the UK, USA
and Canada in Part One which deals with the meeting, the word
“follow-up” was, apparently, used to mislead readers that these
individuals had participated in the meeting. About two-thirds of the
writing comprises purported quotations from the MPs and others. Samples are shown in the middle column. Except for
the one Canadian, one American and Third World Solidarity no names of those quoted are given. This is
particularly significant with regard to the
nameless five UK MPs. What does this indicate?
— a calculated misinformation and therefore lack of credibility? The writer has, in the name of MPs and others, crafted his write-up (Part Two) to express his own wishes and to send a message to convince Ethiopians to heed and rally behind his call. He probably took some statements made by those referred to in the writing, added and/or subtracted, exaggerated and finally cocktailed his fictitious write-up. The suggestions made by his characters are typically those of what his likes would want to see accomplished. They are echoes of propaganda claims made every day by opposition and their supporters. This seems to confirm the above assumption—a tactic to attract followers, as the writer has, apparently, not been successful in gaining enough supporters after many attempts for quite some time. |
5. Result
of Woyanne's 10 percent economic growth - video, etiopianreview.com, June 17th, 2009 Ethiopia's
dictator swears by 10 percent,
ethiopianreview.com, June 18th, 2009
|
After receiving over $1 billion from donors
and claiming an annual growth rate of over 10 percent, Ethiopians are growing
more poor by the day. The most vulnerable victims of Ethiopia's tribal junta
are the children,
as you see in the video below. … facts on the ground tell a different
story, as the video below shows. |
There are two related
presentations by the pathological liar and Isayas Afewrki’s cohort
Elias Kifle of Ethiopian Review. Both are based on videos. The first is on
street children in Addis Ababa. This is not peculiar to Addis Ababa. Similar
situations prevail in cities not only in developing but also in developed countries. The Ethiopian situation reflects an
accumulation of failures of past regimes, including inadequate measures and
action on drought, HIV-AIDS and culture of begging. Of course, one would not
expect Elias to reason and admit these as among the main reasons for the
homeless of which the children are a critical
majority. Elias has also forgotten where he came from. I wish to remind him
he is from a country that was made among the poorest countries in the world
by its past regimes. As attested by the world community the country is making
remarkable progress (including pro-poor policies/fighting against poverty, as
the number one government priority, and developing rural areas).
Ethiopia is expected to attain most of the components of the Millennium
Development Goals. It takes time and hundreds of billion US Dollars (not one
billion) to tackle the myriads of complex problems the country faces. Elias
cited $1 billion to show that Ethiopia receives huge amount of aid. In fact,
on a per capita basis, a true measure of aid, --Ethiopia
is at the bottom rung of aid receivers. The country would have registered
higher growth rates had it been given assistance comparable to those of other
developing countries. Elias claims that
Ethiopians are getting poorer. This contradicts the World Bank and United
Nations figures that show the level of poverty fell from 59% during the 1990s
to 38.7% in 2005. This trend continues and it is a matter of time when the
poverty level reaches at par with other better off countries. He, as do his
likes, conveniently forgets the adage that “Rome was not built in a
day.” The second statement shown
in the left column is the only comment under the second title by him, the
pathological liar and Isayas Afewrki’s cohort. The picture beneath the
statement has nothing to do with the current situation. It and those in the
video are from the previous regimes. The video is one of the countless works of
the Eritrean government aimed at spoiling the image of Ethiopia and
demonizing the EPRDF government leadership. Now that Elias has openly shown
his treason against his country and servitude to Isayas we should expect more
lies and spinning in regard to Ethiopia and its government leaders. |
|
6. Police kill 2, wound many in Dessie, by Ethiomedia, June 30, 2009 |
"The government tried to spark ethnic
conflicts for the last 20 years and failed. Now it is trying its hand at
igniting religious conflicts that would carry it through the next 20
years." - A report on Ethiopia Zarreh …the government of Prime Minister
Meles Zenawi has been caught on several occasions trying to spark ethnic
conflicts in the country. Lately, it has resorted to igniting religious violence. The leaders of the Christian faithful - who
had suspended building St. Arsema Church in Azewa Gedel - then met with their
Muslim counterparts, who told them that they had no objection if the church
was built." |
The Christian/Muslim
incidents that have been and are being reported are works of groups with
hidden religious and political agenda. They are meant to smear the EPRDF
government and incite violence. The groups have been accusing and continue to accuse the EPRDF of inciting ethnic
and religious conflicts. This is absurd. Why on
earth would a government dare to sabotage itself knowing that it would lead
to endless conflicts and misery? The Dessie incident is the
latest attempt by those with hidden agendas.
It occurred when the Christians resumed to build a church without a permit on a site also claimed by Muslims. The
last paragraph in the middle column tells us the Muslims had no objection to
the building of the church. This assertion does not figure in any of the many
write-ups on the issue. It is, obviously, the invention of Ethiomedia. Related
comments (Item 4, PART 7): “The two
items on the left are among the seven items that Finot Democracy posted in
one of its Samntawi Zena Zegeba. As usual, this week’s presentation is replete with report received
(“yederesen zegeba”). According to the “reports”,
Woyane is behind the recent trouble between Christians and Muslims. It
accused Woyane of purposely creating conflict designed for the followers of
the two religions to annihilate each other. It adds that this approach has
been attempted a number of times in the past. The
Samntawi Zena Zegeba accuses the Patriarch Abune Paulos and Sheikh Elias
Redwan as being accomplices in this act. It said that the
annihilation was avoided thanks to the forward-looking (arqo astewy) people. It is indeed sad that there are persons that think the unthinkable and demonize government and religious leaderships. They have no conscience. They are full of hatred to the brim. They are racists. They are obsessed with snatching power at any cost to the people and the country. They do not care of the consequences of their acts and incitement. If these do not describe these creatures what does! What devilish mind can come up with the above accusations? Are they telling us the government, which prides itself on religious tolerance, is so foolish to play with fire, start religious war (a ticking time bomb) that will spread like wild fire and consume everybody? They should be reminded that it is thanks to the EPRDF instituting religious and ethnic harmony that saved the country from being a failed state, worse than Somalia? The Reporter’s articles “የመንግሥት መግለጫ ኦርቶዶክስ ቤተ ክርስቲያንን አሳዝኗል” (25 January 2009) and “ሁሉም ወደ አእምሮው ቢመለስ መልካም ነው”(25 January 2009) on the contrary show the government has done its investigation and was reported rounding the culprits who are creating condition for Christian/Islam conflict. As a result 18 members of Kwarej, a radical Islamic group are under custody. The PM’s reply to a related question in his recent interview showed the accusation was garbage. What is amazing is that the Finote and EPRP mafia have the audacity of insulting the intelligence of readers. Anyway, that is to be expected from robots that specialize in fabricating lies and spinning statements and events.” |
7.COLLABORATION WITH ERITREA IS BETRAYAL OF THE ETHIOPIAN
NATION (PART II)
(A reply to
the self-defeatist camp of Neamin Zeleqe) |
By
all accounts, most African countries are not happy at the present
self-appointed government in Ethiopia. |
What a blunder! Who said “African countries are
not happy” with the Ethiopian government? Did the writer just come out
from hibernation? To the contrary many of them express satisfaction in the
performance of country. Many of them consider Ethiopia a model to be emulated
by other African countries in a number of areas in the political, social and
economic sectors, the latest being Togo. Many international conferences, excluding those organized
by the EU and ECA, are held in Addis Ababa because of the exemplary Ethiopian
successes in the themes of the conferences. The writer pretends not to
know the popularity of the Prime Minister not only among his African peers
but worldwide. He has been head of African continental and regional
organizations. He is currently heading the New
Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD). Recently his African peers selected him to
represent them at the G-8 Summits taking place at this crucial time. As we
all, including the writer, who follow world news know Africa got more than
expected from the G-8 thanks to his excellent representation and
interventions. |
|
8. Zenawi tells
BBC's HardTalk: "This would be my last term." You believe him? Ethiomedia,
May 11, 2009 |
Editor's note - We have solid evidences
to justify our claim that the guy [Prime Minister Meles] wouldn't consider
resignation even by 2016, the end of the five-year term he is saying he
doesn't seek. But first things first: what do you think are the reasons that
convince you Meles would never let Ethiopia go free? Send us your opinions.
We will share them with our worldwide audience. |
What an arrogant and foolish statement! If the editor had "solid evidences" who and what prevented him from including them in his note and thereby convince the readers? Of course, he has none. He is simply bluffing as most rumormongers like him go to any lengths to spoil the good names of Ethiopian government officials. Mr. Editor, please reply to my challenge if you have “solid evidences.” I have been waiting in vain to see on his website another
editor’s note on responses to his call for opinions. He himself has
not, after over three months, come up with his “solid evidences.”
Obviously there were none. |
|
9. Zenawi's
retirement: Too good to be true By
Tadesse Walle (Ph.D.), ethiomedia.com, July 14, 2009 |
Zenawi who by
historical accident ended up his protracted guerrilla war against the
Mengistu regime has been a squatter, unlawful tenant of Minilik?s palace for
nearly two decades. |
The writer,
apparently, a chauvinist, claims that Meles became Prime Minister by
historical accident. Leaving aside the feudal regimes, the so-called
historical accident, which does not make sense, should apply to President
Mengistu as well. Now, if the writer has no objection to President Mengstu
living and working in Minilik’s palace why does he call the Prime
Minister “a squatter, unlawful tenant”? In fact, the way the
Prime Minister came to the palace justifies his being in the palace. He fought
the Derg and liberated the Ethiopian people from rampant killings and
atrocities that the Derg was committing all over Ethiopia. We have short
memories, don’t we? Were we not praying day and night for deliverance
from the Derg? Or, is the writer telling us that the palace is reserved for
Shewans only? |
|
10. Aigaforum
should apologizes Obama Administration and African-Americans, From Dereje,
ethiopiafirst.com, August 2009 Beyond shame - the madness of Aiga Forum,
By Yilma Bekele,
ethiopianreview.com,
August
5th, 2009 |
"The misguided
extremist Diasporas have been cheering up for the last couple of days. You
know why? Hillary Clinton will not visit Ethiopia during her trip to Africa. Hmm! Who cares if the
N**** administration ignores Ethiopia?!”
Aigaforum.com |
Both Dereje
and Yilma Bekele attribute the remark on the left to Aiga Forum. They claim
it was posted on Aiga’s website. According to Mesfin Mekonen (Washington
Update August 8, 2009) it was posted on August 4th. Aiga website is among those I access every day without
fail. I have not seen the remark. It is very likely that nobody saw it. What
I saw was Aiga’s disclaimer that was taken off the next day,
apparently, because Aiga on hindsight thought it was not wise to display it.
Now we have a claimer from Germany who alleges to have seen it and took a
screenshot of it. There seems to be a conspiracy orchestrated by these people
and possibly others to discredit Aiga that, unlike the oppositions’ web
sites, accommodates both government and opposition views, policies,
strategies, etc. Ethiopiafirst provides a link to disposablewebpage.com (disposablewebpage). As the Netter who provided the link indicated,
the material is fake. I understand that the web site can be manipulated/edited and therein lies the
trick played by the individual, more likely a group, who manufactured the
remark in question. That this is so has subsequently been confirmed by
HK’s “A teaching
moment we want to share!” posted on Aiga Forum (click here to read). The question
here is who is the culprit? As there is no claim for the diabolic act, Dereje
or Yilma or both could be among the likely source. If none of them are a
member of the culprit group then how did they come to know about the
existence of the remark, as it was apparently not posted on Aiga web site?
The deception by the culprit is a
sign of growing frustration/desperation on the part of the oppositions and
their supporters. They have been dreaming the fulfillment of their endless
waiting for usurping power on a silver platter through the intervention by a
third party, particularly the new US Administration. To their chagrin they
have come to realize that this will not be the case. That the Obama
administration would not pursue policies very different from those of the
Bush administration has become clear.
In such a situation they have to find a means to drive a wedge between the US
administration and the Ethiopian government. They manufactured the statement
and the story related to it and forwarded it to officials of the Obama
administration hoping it will work. It will not. It is sad that the culprit group who invented and posted the remark thought they could fool readers and the US government. The group considers them both gullible and incapable of understanding the motive behind its posting and the remark. This is a pure and simple insult. Why would the veteran Aiga Forum knowing its implications post such remark on its web site? What would Aiga Forum gain from it? On the contrary Aiga Forum would loss its credibility by doing so. As the oppositions and their supporters accuse that Aiga supports the Ethiopian government, Aiga is paid by the government, etc. why would Aiga work against its interest, if what they say were true? Why would it give the oppositions and supporters ammunition to attack the EPRDF and the government? It does not make sense. |
PART 12: To Read Part 12 click here